NorthEast Radio Watch 1/12/2026: Syracuse Veteran Exits

In this week’s issue… Gary out in Syracuse – VT stations flip formats – SE Mass station sold – New morning show in Toronto – Remembering Maine’s MacLaughlin

By SCOTT FYBUSH

*A central NEW YORK radio veteran is off the air after a career that’s lasted nearly half a century, amidst bigger changes at his last employer.

Rick Gary had been with Galaxy’s WZUN (Sunny 102.1) since 2007, his most recent stop in a journey that began way back in 1968 when he arrived at WOLF (1490) fresh out of the University of Kentucky. After a few years of “town to town, up and down the dial” that took him to WTLB in Utica, WMPS in Memphis and WMEX in Boston between WOLF stints, Gary returned to Syracuse in 1975 to take over mornings at WOLF with the legendary “Rick and Ron” morning show that paired him with Ron Bee for six years.

Gary moved to WSYR (570) in 1981 for mornings, then moved into TV in 1986 at WIXT (Channel 9, now WSYR-TV), where he did weather, morning news and hosted the “Bridge Street” talk show during a 23-year run that ended the same year he was inducted into the New York State Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2006.

After a short run in mornings at WYYY (Y94), Gary joined Galaxy to do afternoons at WZUN and Utica sister station WUMX (Mix 102.5), later moving to mornings.

In 2024, Galaxy honored Gary by naming the WZUN studio in his honor, but as of last Thursday, the Rick Gary Studio has no Rick Gary, and for the moment the morning show there is running jockless.

“Rick Gary’s influence on our station and our community cannot be overstated. He helped define Sunny 102 for so many listeners and leaves behind a legacy of excellence in broadcasting,” said Galaxy CEO Ed Levine in announcing Gary’s departure.

The exit comes amidst other changes at the top of Galaxy leadership, most notably the departure last month of longtime COO Carrie Wojtaszek, who left after 17 years to start her own marketing and advertising agency, Moment Agency. Chief revenue officer Nick Maine has been promoted to COO, Alex Conn moves up from brand manager of WTKW/WTKV (TK99/TK105) to become chief content officer (replacing the departed Marissa Greenlar, who’s also started her own agency), Jennifer Wells moves up from business manager to controller, and Tami Grashof has been promoted to regional sales manager.